Well, My Crankshaft Pulley Sheered Off

SC-71 TBIRD

Registered User
Hello All,

The other day I was driving my brother to the train station when all of the sudden the engine started to vibrate alot then bam I hear something hit the ground. I stopped the car and looked under my SC and ol' and behold the crankshaft pulley was on the ground!:eek: The bolts on the pulley was sheered off the harmonic balancer. It was a good thing that I was just 2 blocks from my house and was not traveling at a high speed or I would have been in big trouble.

This leads to a couple of questions, one is how much should a mechanic charge to take out what's left of the sheered bolts plus putting the pulley back( I believe there is 2), --- and are there any very durable aftermarket bolts I can purchase to replace the damaged ones. I don't want this to happen again. All input will be appreciated.
 
Last edited:
The reason your pulley came off in the first place is the main concern here. It is 99% likely that you harmonic balancer has failed, and has cuased the pulley bolts to break. Got out and see if there is still a large black bolt in the middle of the HB. It is very common on these cars for the HB's to go bad due to the design of them. I would highly reccomend looking into a BHJ unit to replace the stock one. If you don't take care of the HB now, you most likely going to loose another pulley.

Thomas
 
And if the black bolt is there, then what? Do I try to turn it to see if it's loose? I was hoping it would not be that serious. I read that the BHJ balancers are great put it do not come balanced and I have to get them balanced.
 
Screw it man. Replace the balancer and pulley as a SINGLE UNIT. They are balanced together, and Thomas is right, if you put it back on it will just break again or WORSE. BHJ's are spendy and Ford's are cheaper. BHJ's should last much longer and can be removed many times. Stock balancer/pulley should be replaced after EACH time it is removed as removal puts too much stress on it.
 
Bob's right, if you ever pull the OEM HB, you'll need to replace it. For a low budget solution, it might be worth a shot to just remove the radiator and see if you can use an EZ out on the remaining bolts; then just screw the pulley back on with new bolts. From what I recall, the pulley only goes on 1 way. Don't bear down on the EZ out. If the screws don't come out with just moderate force, like 20 lbs or so.. STOP and try some penetrating oil and heat. Be very gentle with a hammer though; the problem with the OEM HB is the inner race is made of aluminum and if you whack it too much, that soft aluminum will deform and the HB will wobble and snap the main bolt for sure.

If you take this approach, check up on it regularly, like once every 1000 miles or so because there are no guarantees it won't happen again with the original HB still on there.
 
I guess the rebuild of the SC's transmission is going to be put on hold. This problem might explain why the car engine idles rough and feels coarse at high rpms.

I don't think I can afford the BHJ Harmonic balancer and the pulley at the same time. The pulley was not badly damaged but just scuffed up a little so it looks like it can be used again. Eventually I would like to get the SCI pulley kit for my SC, but not in the near future unfortunately.
 
I guess I am going for the gold. I am going to get the BHJ and the crankshaft pulley from SCI. My brothers want to get the best parts to fix the problem and I agree. Eventually I will get the whole kit.
 
Back
Top